1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air cleaner and exhaust pipe insulator attaching structure for a saddle-riding vehicle and, more particularly, to improvement in the appearance thereof.
2. Description of Background Art
Concerning air cleaners for saddle-riding vehicles, there is one in which an air cleaner element is disposed in an upper portion inside an air cleaner case, and an air cleaner intake-air duct is inserted into the air cleaner case linearly and obliquely from above and is opened toward a corner portion between a bottom wall portion and a side wall portion inside the air cleaner case (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-280204)
In the air cleaner described above, since the air cleaner intake-air duct is inserted into the air cleaner case linearly and obliquely from above, the length of the air cleaner intake-air duct cannot be made long. As a result, there has been a problem that the air-intake efficiency to bring out optimum engine characteristics cannot be obtained in a saddle-riding vehicle in which importance is placed especially on low-to-middle speed torque.
In addition, among saddle-riding vehicles and the like, there are some which have an exhaust pipe exposed outside, in which case a heat insulator is attached, as needed, to such exposed part of the exhaust pipe. As a technique relating to such a heat insulator attaching structure for a vehicle exhaust pipe, there is one in which an arc-shaped step portion protruding to an inner-peripheral face side is provided on a heat insulator curved into an arc shape; an inner-peripheral face of this arc-shaped step portion on the heat insulator is brought into contact with an exhaust pipe of a vehicle engine; a band member is put around outer-peripheral faces of the arc-shaped step portion and of the exhaust pipe; and an attachment member is fastened to the exhaust pipe with the band member (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-123829)
In the structure disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-123829, arc-shaped step portions are provided on a heat insulator, and band members are put around outer-peripheral faces of these arc-shaped step portions and of an exhaust pipe. Accordingly, the step portions on the heat insulator and the band members put around these step portions are exposed outside, and therefore there has been a problem that this structure does not provide a good appearance. Moreover, since the step portions on the heat insulator are in direct contact with the exhaust pipe, there also has been a problem that these step portions are affected by heat, which easily generates rust and the like on a front face side of the step portions.